Milford Memorial Hospital recently was verified as Level III trauma center by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma.

Kent General Hospital in Dover, also is operated by Bayhealth, received the verification, as well.

To earn the verification, the hospitals underwent a two-day evaluation by a team of trauma physicians from other hospitals who examined patient charts and conducted patient interviews to determine the level of care provided at the scene of injury, transportation to the trauma centers, care in the emergency department and rehabilitation after injury.

“It can be intimidating to ask strangers to make sure you’re doing your job right,” said Dr. Edward Alexander, chairman of Bayhealth’s Trauma Committee. “But we’ve made a commitment to provide state-of-the-art trauma care to this community, and that’s our priority.”

Bayhealth’s Milford Memorial Trauma Center was first verified as a Level III trauma center by the state in 2000.

There are four separate categories of verification in the COT’s program, ranging from Level I to Level IV. Each category has specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification.

Milford Memorial’s trauma program consists of surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, nurses, full anesthesia and radiology services, a trauma coordinator/nurse manager, trauma specialists and a trauma registrar. Surgical residents from the Penn Orthopaedics Residency Program at the University of Pennsylvania also are part of the team.